This invention relates to electric lamp making and, in particular, to a process for attaching the bases to wire lamps.
For the past 40 to 50 years, lamps have been made using an alcohol soluble basing cement. The cement is mixed; the lamp bases are filled and temporarily stored until needed in the lamp-basing machine. A difficulty with this procedure is that the cement mixing and base-filling operations are batch processes, whereas a continuous process is preferred. The separate operations are necessary since the cement and the filled bases have a limited shelf life, requiring careful coordination of all of the lamp-basing equipment. While the shelf life of the filled bases can be extended by refrigeration, this adds to the energy requirements of the system.
In general, the separate operations require more handling than is desirable; for example, some bases are damaged or soiled during the base-filling operation. Another broader consideration is the energy used in the basing operation. The basing cement generally used requires heat for curing, typically supplied by gas burners. With the increasing scarcity of this resource, it is desirable to find a way to reduce its consumption.